Ever since getting off the carriage, Xiao Ya and Lin Qiyou had been waiting here in line for hours. Too many people wanted to enter the Rose Kingdom, and with the recent hero selection trials, the queue was bound to take even longer.
“What terrible timing. The Saintess’s order only came down today—starting the moment people enter the kingdom, they have to be tested if they intend to participate in the hero selection,” Xiao Ya said to Lin Qiyou ahead of her.
“Isn’t that just making things difficult for us? That Saintess is so harsh and petty,” Lin Qiyou snorted, as if she’d been personally wronged by the Saintess.
“You can’t say that! Saintess Yue Lan’s dignity is second to none—even the king doesn’t surpass her,” Xiao Ya quickly glanced around to see if anyone had overheard Lin Qiyou’s blatant disrespect.
Clearly, you haven’t even met Saintess Yue Lan before—how could you have any conflict with her?
Words can bring trouble!
Lin Qiyou granted her companion some face and gave a vague “hmm” in response.
Seeing Lin Qiyou like this, Xiao Ya felt a bit helpless.
She had many good qualities, but some aspects of her personality were honestly worrisome…
After waiting for so long, Xiao Ya’s legs were already numb, but with the border checkpoint so close, she pushed away any thoughts of turning back.
Though even if it weren’t so near, she wouldn’t truly back down.
At the checkpoint, a group of clerics and soldiers stood guard. One cleric held a crystal orb and questioned every entrant thoroughly. Occasionally, some were asked to place their hand on the orb, which then glowed.
“What is that?” Lin Qiyou asked Xiao Ya.
“That’s the Judgment Crystal, a magical artifact. The Church’s mages activate it and make the person being tested place their hand on it.
Then, the crystal emits light in different colors to assess the person’s sins.
They use it now because they want to test those entering specifically for the hero selection.
If the test reveals any sin against the Church’s doctrine, their pass will be marked to prohibit participation in the hero trials,” Xiao Ya explained.
Lin Qiyou furrowed her delicate brows, worry flashing in her eyes.
After a while, it was finally their turn to enter.
“You’re a priest, right? Priests come with us inside,” a cleric said, interrupting their line and pulling Xiao Ya aside into a security room.
Lin Qiyou explained she was entering the Rose Kingdom for the hero selection, so the cleric instructed her to touch the crystal orb.
Lin Qiyou hesitated but then placed her hand on the orb.
The crystal suddenly glowed a vivid crimson.
The cleric’s gaze shifted, strange and uneasy.
“What does this mean?” Lin Qiyou asked.
“It means you can’t participate in the hero selection,” the cleric replied as he looked her over, then began preparing her pass.
Hearing she was barred from the trials, Lin Qiyou immediately said, “No need. I won’t enter the city for now.”
She left the line just then as Xiao Ya, the halfling priest, emerged from the security room.
A little later, pass in hand, Xiao Ya asked Lin Qiyou, “Why didn’t you get a pass?”
“The crystal…” Lin Qiyou made a brushing motion toward the long line not far off.
“Is it yellow?”
“Red?”
“Eh? That’s… an unforgivable sin—”
“I killed my father.”
That one sentence silenced Xiao Ya.
The halfling’s eyes widened in disbelief. How could it be possible?
Such an elegant, beautiful, confident, and kind-hearted lady—how could she be a parricide beast?
She was reluctant to accept the truth, but eventually Xiao Ya lowered her head and sighed, “If it weren’t absolutely necessary, no one would do such difficult things…”
“Heh.”
Hearing this, Lin Qiyou reached out and patted Xiao Ya’s hat.
“Don’t treat me like a child.”
Xiao Ya clutched her hat and took two steps back, then said, “So what now? Even if you enter without the mark on your pass, you won’t be able to join the hero trials.”
“Well, don’t some people’s passes have marks?”
Lin Qiyou stared at the pass in Xiao Ya’s hand.
“Eh! You’re a halfling—it won’t work for you.”
Xiao Ya guarded her pass closely; it was specially made for halflings.
“Surely not using yours?”
Lin Qiyou smiled slightly, and Xiao Ya knew she was being teased.
“Let’s eat something first.”
Seeing Xiao Ya’s comical expression, Lin Qiyou turned toward the roadside stalls along the road.
There were always people with a business mind in this world.
These vendors gathered at busy places like this, setting up stands selling food, with such considerate service they even hired two servers to take orders and deliver food to those waiting in line.
People like Lin Qiyou, who sat at tables to eat, were either new arrivals who thought a bite wouldn’t waste much time or those who had already obtained their passes.
Ordering two snacks, Lin Qiyou ate while her eyes scanned the diners around.
Xiao Ya took a bite and suddenly asked, “Lin?”
“What is it?”
Lin Qiyou didn’t even glance at her, making Xiao Ya think she was really busy.
“You said you’ve been searching for that person for hundreds of years, right? So… don’t you age? Aren’t you human?”
It wasn’t just Xiao Ya—everyone who saw Lin Qiyou thought her face was even more beautiful than an elf’s, but she lacked the pointed ears.
By her features alone, Lin Qiyou was definitely pure human, with no blood of the long-lived races.
So what was this about hundreds of years?
Was Lin Qiyou exaggerating?
“Hm…”
Lin Qiyou seemed to realize the question hit the mark. She looked at Xiao Ya, then at her own trembling wrist, as if answering and questioning at once: “I sacrificed part of my power to come to this world.”
She touched her forehead. “So I forgot some things… but since I chose to give up those memories, it means they weren’t important compared to what I can still recall now.”
“That’s really amazing.”
Xiao Ya half understood, feeling these words were mystical beyond belief, but… she couldn’t help but want to trust Lin Qiyou.
“The price was power, but there’s a benefit too—I got younger?”
Lin Qiyou finished her last bite, wiped her mouth with a napkin, stood up, and pointed her nose toward a table where a few people sat.
“My pass is over there!”
“Eh? What do you mean? Are you planning to—?”
Xiao Ya’s face darkened as she immediately understood—Lin Qiyou was about to do something bad!
Kidnap those people and use their passes to enter the Rose Kingdom?
But wouldn’t that have serious consequences?
While Xiao Ya thought this, Lin Qiyou’s mind was entirely different:
Hmm… kill all these people… then kill that tester at the gate too, and it should be fine… The guards and the people behind me also saw the red glow from the crystal, right?
Kill them all.
The fairy from the xianxia world thought this calmly.
No problem at all.
No means are off limits to achieve one’s goal.
Let the people of this world see the true methods of cultivators.
Cultivators are just like that.